If meta is sometimes a direction what is the opposite direction? Surprisingly, it appears that there is no defined opposite to ‘meta’ in any philosophical system, NLP or otherwise. So let us propose one now. Given the Greek derivation of the word meta, what Greek word means ‘into, in, inside or within’? Neatly, the word is ‘mesa’. So to ‘go mesa’ would mean to go inside something to get more specific detail.
So Joe Cheal invented the phrase “go mesa” in the context of Neurolinguistic Programming. (The phrases “mesa message”, “mesa-process”, “mesa quest”, and “mesa-state” also appear in that paper.)
The paper version of Risks from Learned Optimization says
(See also this comment by the first author.) The citation is:
The cited paper says:
So Joe Cheal invented the phrase “go mesa” in the context of Neurolinguistic Programming. (The phrases “mesa message”, “mesa-process”, “mesa quest”, and “mesa-state” also appear in that paper.)